Ford gives us our best look at the new Ranger yet

Friday, 8 October 2021

Ford has released a new image of the Ranger in its latest camouflage that actually shows off quite a bit of detail.

Ford has ditched the heavy camo from the 2022 Ranger to give us our best look yet at the latest version of the best-selling vehicle in New Zealand.

The company has released a new video and picture of the Ranger in its blue, black and white camouflaged look that reveals quite a bit of new detail, including a more slab-sided design reminiscent of the F-150, as well as a redesigned sports bar.

Then there’s the redesigned vent in the front guards, shark-fin aerial on the roof and the new taillights that will no-doubt echo the shape of the equally F-150-inspired headlights that we have had hints of previously.

Crank up the exposure, however, and more details are revealed, like the chunky running boards and a better look at the profile of the new F-150-style front end.

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But crank up the brightness and you can see more, like those chunky running boards and the F-150 influences in the overall design.

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The next Ranger has been previously shown testing wearing heavier camouflage.

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Ford has released a surprise look at the next-generation Ford Ranger in action.

The side of the rear bumper is heavily obscured, suggesting a new side step that has been spotted in previous spy shots has made it through to the final production version.

While Ford is yet to confirm any powertrain details, various rumours suggest that the next-generation Ranger will be available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. It’s unlikely to be available at launch, but it is expected to be a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with a plug-in hybrid system that will be good for around 270kW of power and 680Nm of torque, and a combined fuel economy of 3.0L/100km.

Ford will reveal the all-new Ranger later this year.

The entry-level engine is expected to be a revised version of the current 2.0-litre bi-turbo four-cylinder diesel engine, while a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 engine will likely be available in high-end variants. It is also possible that the Ranger Raptor will get something more powerful from the Bronco line up, which is currently topped by a 2.7-litre EcoBoost petrol V6, where it produces 231kW and 540Nm, but is rumoured to be getting more for a Raptor version of its own.

Car makers go to great lengths to disguise prototypes of new cars during testing, which results in those familiar camouflage stickers with mind-bending patterns, squiggles, and swirls.

And they work deceptively well too – almost every time we publish a photo of a disguised car here on Stuff Motoring we get at least one comment along the lines of “that looks awful!”. That means the camouflage is doing its job properly.

Ford says its latest camouflage is inspired by the block pattern on the Bronco R Baja racer and uses hundreds of blue, black, and white blocks in a pixelated pattern to break up the appearance of the underlying shape of the vehicle while it’s still under development.

Designed by a team at Ford’s Design Centre in Melbourne, Australia, this camouflage pattern creates an optical illusion that makes it difficult to pick out exterior features in sunlight, while a reflective element helps hide the vehicle’s shape at night.

“We were asked to develop a camouflage that allowed you to clearly see that this is the new Ranger but not see it at the same time,” said Leigh Cosentino, Design Manager at Ford Australia.

“We wanted the design to be dynamic and exciting and build anticipation towards the reveal of the next-gen Ranger without looking like a derivative of military camouflage.

“So, we ended up with this design which is dense at the bottom and then the pattern becomes scattered towards the roof. It ends up being a good camouflage, is visually exciting but also gives the pattern a sense of movement. It’s not the usual static type of camouflage.”

But there’s more to the pattern than just distracting your eye. Lee Imrie the Ford Australia designer who developed the pattern, said he based the pattern on the livery of the Bronco R racer, but also took inspiration from the Next-Generation Ranger itself.

“The inspiration originally came from the Baja livery Ford has been using, as I’m a huge fan of motorsport it’s hard for me not to be obsessed with machinery like that,” said Imrie.

“There’s no line work on this camo that aligns with anything on the exterior and that means you can’t see volume or shape or lines in the vehicle.

“My intention with this design was to scatter your eye so that you can’t focus on a specific line; and the colour patching adds to that effect.”

The wraps will finally come off the new Ranger later this year, but in the meantime Ford engineers will be conducting final sign-off drives on the disguised prototypes.